YOGA: and Christianity?

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler has criticized the practice of YOGA calling on Christians to avoid the practice of YOGA and its spiritual attachments; he called it not a Christian pathway to God. Many Christians reacted to his words by telling him he did not know what he was talking about.

My only knowledge of yoga is that my daughter does BIKRAM YOGA which is practiced in a room heated to a temperature of 105°F – wow! I also have a friend that swears by it to lose weight; which he did big time.

Anyway, it appears that yoga has a spiritual or religious component to it but that most Americans use it as an exercise method and as a stress reliever so Mohler really did not know what he was talking about.

Yoga is part of Hinduism and dates back to 500 B.C. or there about. The way I understand it, the original premise was to learn control over your body (postures, breathing, senses, etc.) and through this control to unite the spiritual light within you with that of the eternal light of the universe and I suppose some may confuse the eternal light with some type of God figure and maybe it is that which Mohler was concerned about?

The reality in America is that yoga helps many people (millions) both physically and mentally and if Christian leaders are concerned that some Christian yoga practitioners are getting to be a little too spiritual, too bad, people need to get a little more spiritual. By spiritual, I mean connecting oneself with the earth around us (Mother Nature) which we know exists because we live in it every day as opposed to a religion that was invented by man for man.

Mohler is concerned about the very few Christians that may take yoga seriously enough to take it to the next level where you master concentration to the point which allows deep contemplation which could result in a state of enlightenment, at which point all religions become superfluous.

I don’t think Mohler has anything to worry about; I don't think many people, Christians or non-Christians, pursue or attain the final state of enlightenment but I could be wrong.

Related articles

• Christian leader: Avoid yoga! (boingboing.net)
• Southern Baptist Leader: Yoga Is UnChristian (alan.com)
• Albert Mohler, Southern Baptist Leader, On Yoga: Not Christianity (huffingtonpost.com)
• Religious Right Leader Says Yoga Is a Sin Against Christianity (gayrights.change.org)